Authorities have identified
22-year-old Tyler Robinson as the person who shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University Wednesday.
Trump said Thursday morning that the FBI has taken the suspect into custody.
Officials say that the shots were fired from the roof of a university building approximately 200 ft away from where Kirk was speaking.
Video footage released late Thursday shows the suspect jumping off the roof and running to a nearby neighborhood.
Law enforcement officials say that the suspect’s father identified the shooter from photos released by the FBI Wednesday. Robinson’s father reportedly called a youth pastor to help convince his son to turn himself in. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said that “a family friend” had
“contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”
“Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated that Robinson had become more political in recent years,” officials said Thursday, adding that “in the conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU.
They talked about why they didn’t had him and the viewpoints that he had.
Robinson’s roommate reportedly showed investigators Discord messages in which the suspect talked about retrieving a rifle. “The messages also refer to engraving bullets and a mention of a scope, and the rifle being unique,” the governor said.
Investigators found a
“high-powered, bolt-action rifle” in a “wooded area where the shooter had fled” that contained unfired ammunition. The bullets had messages engraved on them such as “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “If you read this, you are gay LMAO.”Trump told Fox News Thursday morning that he will push for the shooter to have a speedy trial and wants Robinson to receive the death penalty. Utah’s governor called the shooting a’
‘political
assassination,” stating, “It is an attack on all of us… This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times.”